The most anticipated Denver Broncos season opener in years has finally arrived.

Broncos fans showed up in record numbers to watch Peyton Manning in training camp, a scrimmage and in preseason games. But now, this is for real, as Manning plays in his first meaningful game for his new team tonight against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Broncos win

Peyton Manning led a 10-play, 80-yard drive that led to a Jacob Tamme 1-yard TD catch and Tracy Porter returned an interception 43 yards as the Broncos pulled away from the Steelers in the fourth quarter.

Denver won 31-19 over Pittsburgh to move to 1-0 on the young season.

Manning mark

Peyton Manning became the third player in NFL history to throw 400 career touchdown passes. Manning joined Dan Marino and Brett Favre in the select group when he connected with wide receiver Demaryius Thomas for 71 yards early in third quarter to give Denver a 14-13 lead going to the fourth quarter.

Favre has 508 career TD passes and Marino has 420.

Manning is the fastest to accomplish the feat. He reached the milestone in his 209th game and first with the Broncos. Marino reached 400 in his 227th game and Favre did it in his 228th game. The Associated Press

Breaks open

The Broncos took a 7-3 lead in the second quarter after Peyton Manning led them on a 12-play, 80-yard drive that ended in Knowshon Moreno's 7-yard scamper for a touchdown.

But Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh offense came back, goin on an 89-yard drive over 14 plays that led to a Heath Miller TD catch from four-yards out.

The Steelers led the Broncos 10-7 at halftime.

Manning was 10-of-14 for 98 yards in the first half. Roethlisberger threw for 118 yards on 9-of-16 passing.

Willis McGahee was the game's leading rusher with 26 yards on nine carries.

Scoreless first

The Broncos and Steelers played to a defense-heavy, scorless first quarter in Denver. The Broncos outgained the Steelers 59-39 in total yardage, but only four first-downs were had (three by Denver).

Peyton Manning was 4-of-7 passing for 44 yards. And Willis McGahee rushed six times for 14 yards.

Start of the season

"Opening day is always an exciting time. I've always felt that it's kind of probably as close to a playoff atmosphere as you can get in the regular season," Manning said earlier this week. "Playing a tough team kind of like Pittsburgh, playing on primetime at night is certainly going to add to the atmosphere. The fans will be excited."

Indeed. Orange-clad fans began streaming through the Sports Authority Field at Mile High stadium gates hours before kickoff to watch every minute of pregame warmups, and stadium parking lots were sold out by mid-afternoon.

The Broncos start the season remarkably healthy. Right guard Chris Kuper is the only player sidelined because of injury. The other inactive players for the Broncos are: running back Ronnie Hillman, wide receiver Andre Caldwell, defensive end Malik Jackson, defensie tackle Sealver Siliga, offensive lineman Philip Blake and linebacker Steven Johnson.

That means three of the Broncos' seven draft picks will not play in the opener. A fourth, quarterback Brock Osweiler, also shouldn't play but is active as Manning's backup.

For the Steelers, star linebacker James Harrison will not play after suffering a setback to his knee injury this week. Harrison missed the entire preseason. He practiced Wednesday but was unable to return to the field on Thursday or Friday.

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